Will You Swipe this Page from Verizon’s Customer Service Playbook?

I’m on Verizon Wireless. The service is fine but sometimes the billing and customer service can feel like tooth extraction.

But, as we’ll discuss in a moment, they do teach us a thing or two about marketing.

I’ve been using the same cell for almost three years now so it’s clear I don’t worry about having a trendy phone. Hard to believe, eh? It IS possible to not bother keeping up with the Joneses.

My only data plan is text; no internet access or navigation. With a contract that has expired I’m on a month-to-month service basis (if I’m not mistaken).

Verizon now sends me offers that stress I have an upgrade due. These postal mailings are personalized with my first name on them and everything. They identify my old, crappy model phone and point me to the latest, shiny stuff.

Trust me, Verizon sends some of the prettiest little brochures and mailers to entice. Sometimes I flip through their sales pamphlets just to see how they’ve structured their offer.

They know how to compel their target buyer with snazzy photos and big calls to action.

Why does this matter?

Client monitoring

Verizon knows where I am in their sales cycle. They know my contract is up, my phone is outdated, and they want to retain me as a customer. They have processes in place to flag certain account activity to upsell me and so they don’t lose me to a competitor.

How are you monitoring your customer base? Do you know when it’s their birthday? How about when they last purchased from you? Do they open your emails and click on the links you provide?

If these are all unknowns, then you know what your homework assignment is for today.

Hold your customers by the hand

Sticking with the Verizon example, they’re smart. They are telling me exactly what to do next. Their mailers identify:

My exact account standing

Account “perks” that are due to me

Which number to dial or page to visit to claim the perks, what to ask for, and what to expect

How to take the next step

Incentives for the next step including discounts on new gear and promotional periods

What are you doing to make it easy for your customers to take the next step? If you’re making people guess what you want them to do then you’re going to struggle, my friend. Be bold and advise them on what the next best step is for them to take.

Even if that means you have to put on your scary sales hat and ask them directly to buy a great product that you offer.

They’ll thank you for it.

Follow-up

Knowing your client base and having something to sell (or upsell) them is all well and good. Connecting the dots between the two is what dreams are made of, right?

Synthesize what you know about your buyers and map out the sales life cycle. Which offers will you make, and when, to extend their account lifetime? How will you share that offer message with your buyer?

How often will you send your newsletter emails and follow-up postal mailers? Or will you simply pick up the phone and dial? What language will you use in your correspondence to trigger an action?

Every few weeks Verizon sends me beautiful brochures urging me to jump on the new tech bandwagon; they’re pretty convincing. Can you “do” convincing? (maybe not yet, and that’s okay, but you have to practice).

Funny how my blood pressure instantly spiked with your reference to Verison and customer service … grrr! Anyway … great example of the importance of knowing and following up with our customers. When I think of this subject Amazon immediately comes to mind. They never cease to impress me with their service – unless Verizon Wireless Thanks for the inspiration!

thanks for sharing another great marketing case study. You make some great points: The money and long-term success often lies in dull and repetitive tasks and not in fancy tools and stuff. When we know that, these tasks should be more fun also.

Good points Jon. Have the impression far too many companies fail to combine customer services and sales. Intelligent companies do what Verizon is doing while a lot of businesses miss the boat.

Having said that I should add that it can go too far as well when it comes to offering customers new services. Especially since it’s not unusual that customers find that what they signed up to only benefit the company. That’s not how you keep customers long term.

Right, there is a balance to keep. Often we as consumers don’t perform our due diligence and rush into a service package or product that serves the company more than the end user. Ah, and weaving customer service into sales is an art!

Hi Jon,
Thanks for sharing. I do love a good customer service experience. And it does make you feel good when a company knows you and your situation, even if it is entirely automated. Nonetheless, to be able to do that with millions of customers is impressive. I suspect even more customization in the future as our information age continues to evolve.

Agreed on the automated part. But after you reach a certain size (user base in the millions for sure) it just isn’t reasonable to expect one-on-one custom communication. Some attempt to reach out after the sale is nice and it’s smart strategy keeping us engaged with the brand and its offerings.

I like what you say about making it easy for our customers to take the next step. Most of the time, we don’t even need to put on our sales hats; just asking a question or making a suggestion will suffice.

Lots of people are just looking for a little direction. By giving it to them we can be greatly rewarded. Thanks for sharing, Jon!

Good point, Gregory. The sales hat isn’t always required as educating the customer and showing them what they can do next is all it takes most of the time. We all need a little direction from time to time!

Jon, you have just changed the way I will look at those brochures that come in the mail. Especially the ones from phone companies.

And I realize that I don’t know nearly enough about the people who are on my list or who have become my customers. I might like the boring work but I see from this post that it can make a huge difference to the bottom line.

Some people really do need to have their hands held when going through such a service – quite sad really. And then, you have verizon bombarding you with upgrade options…. will you give in eventually? Must admit, I’ll give them points for persistence.

Persistence can pay off. I don’t know if it’s sad that people need a walk-through at times. If we spot a trend of our customers and clients failing to take the next step and we don’t stop the bleeding, so to speak, wouldn’t you agree it’s sad if we (as service providers) neglect to further assist them?

I love this post! I also use Verizon WIreless and have always been impressed with their sales funnel. But you have broken it down even further and, best of all, caused us to look in the mirror to see if we measure up.

‘You need to do the dull, hard, boring work because that’s how you’ll succeed.’

Eventhough Verizon Wireless is not available in Nigeria, quite a lot of the networks here behave the same way. Just never thought of it the way you just outlined.

The way they continually bring their products and services could be annoying, but it puts their images at the back of your mind, so that anytime you need the service you think of them first, depending on the network you are using.

Thanks, Tosin. You bring up a good point: being front of mind. The more “touches” you perform, the more likely you are to be the “go to” source the next time your prospect/customer is in the market to buy.

These are requirements for any successful business. It’s certainly true that it’s much cheaper to retain old customers than to get new ones. You can’t expect people to come back if they don’t remember who you are, or how to find you. They might want to come back, but didn’t bookmark your website. So, the occasional email to old customers should pay off with future sales.

Great point, Lou. Even email is a great point of contact to keep an old customer, or lead, “warm.” Reminding your audience what they stand to benefit from doing business with you and how to engage you is an evergreen pursuit.

I also loved this statement “You need to do the dull, hard, boring work because that’s how you’ll succeed.” What a great example you cited here. Especially for telecommunications company where competition is tough, Verizon is really doing a great job to ‘learn’ and understand their customers more. You are also so right about keeping that balance – doing the proper follow-up but not to the point of being annoying as people have commented.

Good suggestion about checking out the junk mail for marketing inspiration ;-)…